The present invention relates to cooking apparatus and more particularly to a barbecue grill having a slidably mounted hood and slideable fuel tray to regulate the amount of heat contained within the cooking area when cooking various foods, the unit providing versatility in the types of cooking available.
In the past, there have been various cooking apparatus employed for using charcoal and the like for outdoor cooking. By way of example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,034,662 in which a cooking apparatus is described. The cooking apparatus has a container-like body supported on legs which may be made from sheet metal and includes a special damper arrangement beneath a corrugated foraminous sheet metal meat support. Charcoal or other fuel is supported in a removable pan inside a large container smaller than the inside area defined by the body and mounted above a sheet metal damper in which there are two large damper openings which air flow is adjusted by means of a manually hinged damper plate. A large, hinged hood may be swung and supported out of the way and the hood has a removable shelf. Special pivoted brackets selectively retain the hood in place.
Another example is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,675. This invention illustrates a gas cooking grill comprising a casing which is generally L-shaped side view, the casing enclosing a horizontal cooking grid in the front portion and the rear horizontal cooking grid at a higher elevation than the vertical or rear portion of the L. The gas burner and the bed of brikettes is disposed under the front grid. The front of the casing is formed by an upper door and a lower door each of which is hinged for swinging movement about a horizontal axis.
The present invention improves upon the prior devices by providing a barbecue grill which has a working surface, a slideable fuel tray, and a hood slidably mounted on the working surface to provide a cooking area of the barbecue grill on the working surface to provide a cooking working surface be covered with the hood for regulating the cooking temperature while allowing a portion of the top of the surface to be used as a cooking surface without placing the food directly over the charcoal. The prior devices only enabled the hood to be moved vertically to an open position from a fully closed position, thus giving little regulation over the amount of cooking area which was covered.